“‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’” Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB)

Christians love Jeremiah 29:11. It’s a life verse for many people which they display on t-shirts, mugs, wall decor, and journals. It is positive and hopeful, getting people through rough times in their lives. While it is encouraging, this verse often gets pulled out of its context as if God spoke it to us in the 21st century. What makes this verse even more hopeful and powerful is understanding it in the time that it was written and the people for whom it was written. If I were to ask a group of Christians what the book of Jeremiah is about and who Jeremiah was, I would probably get a response similar to “It’s a book of prophecy” or “Jeremiah was a prophet.” These are correct statements, but what is this book of prophecy about?

The Lord appointed Jeremiah to be a prophet in his youth during the reign of king Josiah as is written in Jeremiah 1:1-10. In verse 6, Jeremiah claims that he does not know how to speak, being a youth, but the LORD says in verses 7-8:

“But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,’ declares the LORD.”

In verse 9 Jeremiah explains how the LORD touched his mouth and declared that He put His words in Jeremiah’s mouth, saying in verse 10: “‘See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’” Because Jeremiah 29:11 is such a positive verse, people may assume that Jeremiah was a beloved prophet, but it was the exact opposite. He was hated because of the message he was given to speak to Judah. Judah had been repeatedly warned by God that punishment was coming because of their unfaithfulness to Him. They worshipped other gods, especially Baal, and were unrepentant in their behavior: “‘For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). He continues in Jeremiah 2:19-22:

“‘Your own wickedness will correct you, and your apostasies will reprove you; know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God, and the dread of Me is not in you,’ declares the LORD GOD of hosts. ‘For long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds; but you said, ‘I will not serve!’ For on every high hill and under every green tree you have lain down as a harlot. Yet I planted you a choice vine, a completely faithful seed. How then have you turned yourself before Me into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine? Although you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your iniquity is before Me,’ declares the LORD GOD.”

The entire book of Jeremiah is about Judah’s harlotry and unfaithfulness to the LORD, and the LORD is warning them that the king of Babylon is coming to take Judah into captivity just like Assyria carried away her sister Samaria. Rather than learning from the mistakes and consequences of Israel, Judah doubled-down and brought God’s wrath upon themselves. And He will not relent. Is it because He is unforgiving, wishing for their destruction? No! Rather, the nation of Israel was warned in the very first commandment of Law after the LORD rescued them from Egypt that they should have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3). In Exodus 20:22-23 the LORD speaks to Moses saying, “‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.’” After Moses explained more details of the Law given to him by God, the Israelites declared, “‘All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!’ (Ex. 24:3)” Yet right after this event, while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the stone tablets of the Law, the Israelites wavered in their faith by creating their own idols and worshipping them. How quickly promises are made, and how quickly they are broken. Thus is the pattern of Israel throughout the Old Testament, and the LORD has had enough of their disobedience (see Jeremiah 15:1-9). 

In the book of Jeremiah, God constantly reminds the people who He is, the Creator of everything who knows all and sees all. Yet the people do not fear Him as they should, and they worship man-made idols that have no power or wisdom. Not only has the nation failed, but also its priests and prophets, men who are supposed to spiritually lead the people on the right path:

“‘An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?” Jeremiah 5:30-31

And why do the people love it so? Because the prophets and priests are telling them what they want to hear: peace and safety. Jeremiah not only had to share a very difficult message to his own people, but he had to contend with other supposed spiritual leaders who spoke the exact opposite message, claiming that it was also from the LORD:

“‘But, ‘Ah, LORD GOD!’ I (Jeremiah) said, ‘Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ Then the LORD said to me, ‘The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds. Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them–yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in the land’–by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end!’” Jeremiah 14:13-15

The people chose to listen to these prophets because they liked the idea of peace and safety. Who doesn’t? But this is an example of why John exhorts the church to test the spirits in 1 John 4:1: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Paul also shares a similar message with Timothy regarding his leadership in the church in 2 Timothy 4:2-4: 

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

As Solomon would say, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Just as the ancient Israelites wanted their ears tickled by false prophets, the church is also in danger of having its ears tickled rather than face the consequences of disobedience and faithlessness. In truth, I argue that many people have already succumbed to listening and believing in false teachings because they make people feel better about themselves and the decisions they’ve made. Rather than fall into that temptation, I encourage us to be more like Jeremiah. He was human and struggled with what God called him to do, but he also could not deny that the LORD indeed called him and would not leave him:

“Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me as a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land! I have not lent, nor have men lent money to me, yet everyone curses me…You who know, O LORD, remember me, take notice of me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away; know that for Your sake I endure reproach. Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:10, 15-16

The fifty-two chapters of Jeremiah are filled with messages of death, destruction, and captivity. Although many people in Judah will die by famine, pestilence and the sword as Jeremiah prophesied, the LORD also promised Judah that a remnant will return to the land. In Jeremiah 29, Jeremiah sends a letter to the exiles in Babylon, telling them to make a life there by planting gardens, building families and seeking the welfare of the city where they have been sent (vv. 4-7). He continues in vv. 8-14:

“‘For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD. For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’”

Putting verse 11 in context makes its meaning much more powerful. God, as both a loving Father and a wrathful holy God, sent His children into exile as consequence for their sin. A couple generations go by, thereby weeding out those who committed the adulterous sin, so that a new generation, rooted and grounded in the LORD GOD of Israel could return to the promised land. THAT is the future and hope. God is always faithful to fulfill His promises, and for the sake of His great name, and for the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David, there was a remnant in Israel which eventually resulted in the “Righteous Branch” (discussed in Jeremiah 23:1-6 and 33:14-18), that is Jesus, who is the everlasting King and Priest. 

Since creation, God knew what would have to be done to atone for humanity’s sin. Yet even in all of Israel’s faithlessness (and ours) toward Him, the LORD did not forget His promise to save us from our sins. While we are not exiles in a foreign land like the Israelites were (though this world is not our home), we do have a hope and a future because of the blood of Jesus Christ and the Father’s gifts of salvation and grace. The message to the church is the same message to the ancient Israelites, for God does not change:

“‘But this is what I commanded them (the people coming out of Egypt) saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’” Jeremiah 7:23

Obedience. This is what God asks of every person who desires to follow Him. It is simple, but like all children, our flesh desires for us to rebel against our parents–in this case our Heavenly Father. We think we know what is best for us, but we have no clue. While some people may argue that the Old Testament is irrelevant, I argue that mentality is contrary to Scripture. If we have little to no understanding of the Old Covenant, we cannot understand who God is, the importance of sacrifice, and the necessity of discipline and being set apart for the sake of holiness. We also cannot fully understand Jesus, His mission and ministry. I believe Paul would argue the same as evidenced by his message in 1 Corinthians 10:1-14:

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.’ Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” (Bold print added for emphasis)

Our hope and our future is in Christ. Our mission in life is to obey the Lord, and trust Him that where He leads us He will meet us there. Jeremiah had a difficult task, but his obedience trumped his fear, sadness, and loneliness. He feared God more than men who tried to kill him, and God intervened on his behalf. When people preach or teach messages that keep you in your comfort, test it against the truth of Scripture. The New Testament is full of messages that talk about the hardships of following God and being a Christian. Just look at Paul’s life once he made the decision to follow the Lord after persecuting Christians:

“Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.” 2 Corinthians 11:24-33

The Christian life is not easy. It is not for the fickle-minded. It is not for those who seek comfort, peace, and safety as the Israelites did. It is about forsaking the ways of the world while living in the midst of it for the sake of the gospel of Christ and the great name of the Lord God, our Creator, who saved us with His own blood. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:16: “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” As Christians who have been given the truth of God’s Word, we are under compulsion to preach the gospel, not only with words but with our very lives. We should not look or act like the world. Rather, we are called to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). Are we walking in faithfulness to the Lord, or are there idols in our lives keeping us from being obedient? If so, we are called to repent and turn away from that which keeps us from Him. Our minds should be fixed on the eternal rather than the temporary for everything will one day be gone. Ask God with sincerity of heart to reveal the things in your life that are keeping you from Him. I can say from experience that He will tell you if you seek Him earnestly. But that’s just the first part. The Israelites asked the Lord for His guidance, and He answered them. However, they often didn’t listen because it’s not what they wanted to hear. I encourage all of us to have ears that want to hear the truth and the will to follow Him even when it’s hard—and it will be hard sometimes. It may even cost us everything in this world, but righteous fruit will last forever. 

Father, give us ears to hear, eyes to see, and minds to understand Your truth. Help us to learn from the unfaithfulness of ancient Israel and to choose today to be obedient to You. When we seek You earnestly, may we find You. When we stumble and repent, may You forgive us that we may remain in right-standing with You. We thank You for the love and patience You have for us, Your children. We do not desire to be lukewarm, being spit out of Your mouth, but we want to be flames in this world for Your glory. Give us the strength to endure and the wisdom to speak and act your Word truthfully. Amen.

© Lauren Demuth